Text Size

-

+

reset

On the other side of the race is Sarah Palin, who has said that she, too, is remaining on the sidelines in the Republican 2012 race. But after saying in South Carolina that she would have voted there for Newt Gingrich, there was the former Alaska governor Friday taking to Facebook to pick up Gingrich’s argument that the establishment is out to get him.

Call them the non-endorsing endorsers.

Each has their own motivation for staying officially neutral, but their willingness to put a thumb on the scale — yet not go any further — illustrates an underlying theme of the Republican race. Many party elites fear an electoral meltdown if Gingrich leads the ticket and many anti-establishment Republicans worry Romney will revert to his moderate past if elected. But both wings of the party are uneasy about fully embracing a flawed enemy of their ostensible enemy.

“Politicians have a certain degree of risk-aversion,” said Christian Ferry, a senior John McCain official in 2008, adding: “I guess they don’t feel strongly enough about their supposed choice to risk alienating sections of the party.”

In a sense, these pols want it both ways — to stay in the conversation but not make a difficult decision that could impact their future or standing with a segment of the party.

“By not endorsing, these leaders maintain some flexibility as honest brokers and retain their influence,” said Phil Musser, a former Republican Governors Association executive director and Tim Pawlenty strategist.

Yet in the waning days of the crucial Florida contest, with the battle between Romney and Gingrich getting increasingly nasty, each of the four marquee Republicans is offering an important boost to the candidates that suggests they’re decidedly less than Switzerland-like in their neutrality.

Both presidential campaigns are quick to pick up on the supportive words, sending out emails that note the comments along the lines of “Even the neutral fill-in-the-blank helped reinforce our message by saying…”

Rubio may have offered the most important aid of the group.

The junior Florida senator and VP short-list favorite of most of the GOP hopefuls not once but twice came to Romney’s rescue from Gingrich.

When Gingrich launched a tactically clever, if weakly executed, line of attack comparing Romney to former Gov. Charlie Crist — the ex-Republican who Florida conservatives loathe — Rubio put out a statement saying, “Mitt Romney is no Charlie Crist.”

Romney campaigned for him early, he noted, declaring that the former Massachusetts governor “is a conservative.”

More significant was the protection Rubio offered when Gingrich’s campaign aired an ad accusing Romney, of being “anti-immigrant.”

The language was “inflammatory,” said the Cuban-American Rubio. Gingrich yanked the ad within hours.